After the Storm
by GloriaFan
Summary: After a long struggle, Billy accepts a top-notch job offer in Tennessee. But when the South-East tornadoes strike, Stacy and Renee's younger brother starts to wonder if accepting the offer and leaving home was such a good idea.
1. Chapter 1

_**~ After the Storm – Chapter 1 ~**_

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><p><em>AN: _As you mat know, one of the worst tornado outbreaks of all time recently hit several areas in southeast states, like Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and others. Here is my tribute to those who lost their homes, belongings, and to the family members of those who lost their lives. Here is _**After the Storm **_by **GloriaFan**

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><p>"Bon voyage!" Stacy yelled as her brother and his wife stepped into the moving van and cranked it, starting on their long journey to the destination.<p>

Tennessee was far away, but the job was an offer he couldn't refuse.

"We're about to see it all, honey." Billy said, leaning over and kissing his wife.

"Yep, clean southern air, no more bright city lights. It'll be amazing!" She replied.

*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*

Picking up the pieces of broken homes was no easy task…but it was easier than picking up the pieces of broken hearts.

Stacy and Renee stood in the middle of the rubble, holding their brother, Billy close and him holding them even closer.

"I'm so sorry." Stacy said, breaking into tears and holding her brother tighter.

"We-we lost everything." Billy said, motioning to the rubble.

A Tennessee resident since moving last month, Billy had been hit by the tornado in the late evening, his pregnant wife and himself barely escaping.

"Let's see what we can recover. That's what this is all about; _**Recovery**_." Stacy said breaking away from her siblings.

Kneeling down, Stacy brushed dust away to reveal a photo of Billy's wedding day, the corner ripped off and lying elsewhere.

"Found this." Stacy said, handing the photo up to Billy. Holding it near, he himself kneeled down in the rubble.

*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*

On the other side of the country, Gloria sat in her living room, reading the magazine which had arrived in the mail that morning.

"Gloria! Get in here!" Mickey yelled, motioning his wife to the kitchen where he held the phone in his hand. "Listen to this phone message." He said, handing her the phone.

_Gloria, Mickey, if you guys get this, please, call back. There was a huge tornado here the other night, and we lost everything. We love you guys, bye. _The message ended, and the pre-recorded woman telling the message details came on. _This message was sent on Thursday, at 10:41 PM, by Brown, William._

Gloria hung up the phone, tears in her eyes. "Billy." She said. Mickey nodded. "I have to call Stacy." She said, pressing number 3, which was Stacy's number on Gloria's speed dial. After about 4 rings the phone was answered and Ryan's voice came on.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hey, Ryan, this is Gloria, is Stacy there?" Gloria asked.

Ryan smirked. "On the other side of town. If you're calling about Billy, that's where we are. We're helping him clean up. They sent me out to recruit members from Billy's church to help." He said.

"Well, I can't believe for one thing that you guys went _halfway across the country without telling us!_" Gloria exclaimed, putting her hand on her hips.

Ryan laughed, parking his car into his, "You should have gotten the message already."

"Alright, I'll see you soon. I'm coming, now." Gloria said, nearly hanging the phone up.

"Hey, hey – you can't just mosey down thousands of miles like it's nothing!" Ryan exclaimed, stopping Gloria from her full fledged mega-trip.

"Why, Billy is my friend, I'm going to comfort him, Ryan. Listen – I'll pack and leave out tomorrow." Gloria said, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I could never argue with you Gloria." Ryan said with a laugh. "_**I **_have always been known for my arguable nature, but _**you **_always beat me there."

Gloria laughed. "Great – I still have control over the smaller ones." She said. She could almost hear Ryan's eyes rolling through the phone. "Bah-bye, Ryan." Gloria finished.

"Bye, Gloria." Gloria hung up the phone.

"Michael!" Gloria yelled.

"Yeah, mom!" Michael replied.

"Pack your bags, we're going to Tennessee!"

*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*

Kid sunk onto the couch and let out a yawn. He had only just gotten home, and was entirely spent.

As he got back up to say hello to his wife and daughter, he heard a soft crying noise and the sound of a Casting Crowns song flowing through laptop speakers coming from Whitney's room.

"Whitney? Are you alright, baby girl?" Kid asked in a concerned tone.

There upon Whitney's bed sat his wife and daughter snuggled up together, watching some sort of video on the laptop.

"Rahsaan, come watch this." His wife said, motioning him over. Whitney reached out and rewound the YouTube video to the start.

Kid watched as the video flipped through the devastation. _Billy_, he thought. He himself felt tears welling in his eyes. Getting up from the bed, he reached for the phone. Dialing the cell phone number of Stacy, his best friend, he impatiently waited for the phone to reach the number.

"Stacy, is Billy alright?" Kid asked as soon as the phone picked up.

"Um, yes, I ought to know, Billy is who I am." A man's voice answered. "Stacy's in the powder room."

"Billy! Great to hear from you!" Kid exclaimed into the phone.

"Likewise, Kid."

"Listen, I haven't seen you for a while, I'm coming down to see you." Kid said matter-of-factly.

"Kid, don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not ridiculous. I am. See you then, I leave tomorrow."

*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*

Days had passed, with not a lot of progress.

At the airport, Gloria, Mickey, and Kid (and families), got off their own flights.

"Talk about an unlikely place to meet." Mickey said, putting his arms around Kid and greeting him, as Gloria did the same from the other side. After finding a rental car that wouldn't burn a hole in their wallets, they boarded and headed out for a long drive from the only fully functional airport.

As they pulled up to what once was Billy's driveway, they were shocked to see the damage. Even though most of his house remained, there was still no roof, no possessions. Resulting in no place to stay.

"Billy!" Gloria yelled, embracing him.

"Gloria? What are you doing here?" he asked with a distinct tone of utter surprise in his voice.

"I came to see you!" Gloria said, her big sister comfort flowing through her voice.

"Likewise." Kid said, walking to the back of Billy, and hugging him slightly around the shoulders.

"Oh, guys!" Billy said, tears almost coming from his eyes. "You guys, it must have cost you a fortune to fly here! You really shouldn't have came here." He said, sobbing tears of joy.

"How can we help?" Kid asked, walking towards the the building and turning to Billy.

"We can start cleaning over here – we need everything we can salvage."


	2. Chapter 2

_**~ After the Storm – Chapter 2 ~**_

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><p>Over the next few weeks, cleanup had gone…alright. Cleaning through the rubble and recovering several belongings.<p>

"I'm tired, sweaty, and hungry." Kid said, sipping his water bottle.

"Yeah – how about we take a break?" Mickey asked Billy, stepping over from the new cleanly swept porch steps, and grabbing his canteen.

"Sure, eat your lunch." Billy said, not turning towards the others. "I'm going to go sweep the steps again." He said, grabbing the broom from Mickey and getting to work on the newly roofed house.

Ryan stepped up the porch steps and grabbed the broom from Billy. "It was nice of Mr. Astley to help us roof the house." Ryan said, Billy didn't reply. "Billy, tell me what's wrong, _**now**_." He demanded sweetly.

"Listen – just, go and eat." Billy said, grabbing the broom back.

"Billy, I know what you're thinking, and it's wrong." Ryan confronted.

"And what is that?" Billy replied, slightly offended at his brother-in-law's words.

"You think that it's all your fault for moving here to begin with. And it's no one else's fault. A tornado is just force of nature, period." Ryan said.

"You're right." Billy sighed, slumping over slightly. "I can't feel down in the dumps. We have to move, get it done, no time for losing. At all." He said with a grin.

"Attaboy!" Ryan exclaimed, throwing his arms around Billy.

Meanwhile, far enough away from Billy and company, the girls were formulating a plan of sorts.

"I just had the best idea!" Renee exclaimed, catching Stacy and Gloria's attention.

"What?" Stacy asked, slightly less enthusiastic, but growing every moment.

"Well – I just read the newspaper and saw that several places are going to have benefit concerts…" Renee began Gloria bit her lip and began to think. "and I figured that we should throw one for Billy, next Saturday. We'll sing some patriotic songs, some old pop songs, and maybe even take requests." Renee said, excitedly.

"Perfect!" Gloria smiled, grasping hands with the other two girls.

"Yeah!" Stacy exclaimed. "Let's plot out the song list!" she said, slipping the notepad from her pocket and grabbing a pen.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Gloria stopped her. "Don't you think we ought to tell the other _Kids _or adults or whatever before we make full plans for a concert?" she asked.

"By the way, what do you think we should call ourselves? We have to put it on our poster and introduce ourselves with. We can't do something stupid like, _Adults Incorporated…_" Renee asked, biting her lip slightly.

"Let's just stick with Kids Inc." Stacy reassured.

"Yeah – why change what's already been popular for ages, and ages, and ages!" Gloria said with a smirk.

"Perfect." Renee finished, beginning her walk to Mickey, Kid, and Ryan. "Hey, guys – we need to talk to you." Renee said, the guys began to walk over to the girls. "Whoa! Not you Billy, you have to stay here." Renee said in her big sister tone.

"Why not?" Billy asked. "What are talking about?"

"It's a secret." Renee said, walking back over behind the guys.

"I can't allow this on my own property!" Billy exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Renee said, slapping the air with her hand.

When she got over to the group, Stacy had just finished telling the guys their plan. "So, then we'll play some patriotic songs, old pop songs, and then take some requests."

"Sounds great!" Ryan exclaimed, always quick to approve a good idea.

"It does sound great." Mickey said with a smile.

"I agree with Mickey and Ryan. Sounds awesome!" Kid said.

"Then we're on!" Gloria said, putting her hand in the pile. "Saturday."

*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*

Finally Saturday had come. A location had been picked, the song list had been prepared (thanks to Stacy), and the kids had gotten dressed. Grabbing Billy and wife, they headed out.

"_Please,_ Renee!" Billy begged. "Tell me where you're taking us!"

"Billy, you're so whiny! You'll see when you get there." Renee replied.

"And why are you and Stacy wearing matching outfits?" he asked again.

"Billy, please be quiet, I could **crash and kill us all **and then you won't ever see the place if you don't shh!" Renee retorted.

Billy sunk back in his seat as they drove into the parking lot. The stage was set and the other kids stood on it, preparing to begin performing their number in front of the seated crowd. Stacy and Renee got out of the car and walked to the back doors, escorting the guests of honor to their seats in the front and center.

Renee and Stacy jumped on stage with the others as Ryan began to play the guitar.

First, Kid wooed the crowd with his cover of James Brown's _Living in America_ followed by Ryan's original song _In That Dream_. Gloria sang her version of _Its Only Love _followed by Stacy's _Goodbye to You_ and Renee's medley of _Into the Groove/Dress You Up/Over and Over. _Mickey sang _Hello Again _as his solo. The group sang _She's Fresh _and Ryan and Stacy performed a medley of _Call Me/Go Your Own Way._

As their last planned song, they performed _That's America._

"Do we have any requests?" Mickey asked.

"Could you guys do _That's What Friends Are For_?" they heard a voice asked. Riley stood up in the crowd.

"Riley!" the kids exclaimed. Riley smiled. "Just sing the song."

"Wait – how did you get here?" Mickey asked.

"I took a plane?" Riley said sarcastically. "But seriously, I had to come. Not only for Billy – but it was a Kids Inc reunion!" Riley exclaimed as the crowd cheered.

The guys started the music and Stacy began to hit tambourine quietly, adding a interesting twist to the tune.

Gloria stepped to the front of the stage, "_And I never thought I'd feel this way, and as far as I'm concerned,_" she sang, directing the lyrics at Billy.

"_I'm glad I got the chance to say,_" Mickey sang, stepping beside Gloria and wrapping his arm around her, "_That I do believe I love you,_" he sang to Gloria.

Kid and Ryan stepped from the back and joined in with the lyrics "_And if I should ever go away,_"

"_You should close your eyes and try, to feel the way we do today and then if you don't remember,_" they sang, Renee coming up and joining. "_Keep smiling, keep shining, knowing you can always count on me,_" Stacy stepped from the back and sang the next lyric. "_For sure,_"

Gloria motioned for Billy, his wife, and Riley to join them on stage. After a lot of convincing, they all finally came up to join on the chorus, "_That's what friends are for, for good times and bad times, I'll be on your side forever more, you know, that's what friends are for, keep smiling (smiling), keep shining (shining), knowing you can always count on me, for sure, that's what friends are for, for good times (good times), and bad times, I'll be on your side forever more, that's what friends are for,_"

They all embraced each other closer. "_That's what friends are for_." They finished. Billy and wife in tears and the crowd going wild, Gloria handed the microphone to Billy.

"Thank you guys, I know I'll get through this with you guys." He said with a smile.

"What else? THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR!" They yelled in unison. With friends like this, Billy knew he was going to be alright after the storm.


End file.
